Thus departed Hiawatha,
  Hiawatha the Beloved,
  In the glory of the sunset,
  In the purple mists of evening,
  To the regions of the home-wind,
  Of the Northwest-wind Keewaydin,
  To the Islands of the Blessed,
  To the kingdom of Ponemah,
  To the land of the Hereafter!

The Courtship of Miles Standish brings us to the time of the Pilgrim’s settlement in the New World and has inspired many painters.

The next poem, which some authorities consider Longfellow’s masterpiece, is connected with another historical event, of a later date, the conquest of Acadia by the English.  It is a matter of history that in 1755 the peaceful French farmers of Acadia, without adequate notice or proper regard for family ties, were hurried aboard waiting British vessels and arbitrarily deported to various ports, where they were turned adrift to join the scattered members of their families and earn their living as best they could.  The outline of the story of Evangeline, and of her long, faithful search for her lover Gabriel, is too well known to need mention.  There are besides few who cannot vividly recall the reunion of the long-parted lovers just as Gabriel’s life is about to end.  All through this hopeless search we are vouchsafed enchanting descriptions of places and people, and fascinating glimpses of scenery in various sections of our country, visiting in imagination the bayous of the South and the primeval forests, drifting along the great rivers, and revelling in the beauties of nature so exquisitely delineated for our pleasure.  But, as is fitting in regard to the theme, an atmosphere of gentle melancholy hovers over the whole poem and holds the listener in thrall long as its musical verses fall upon the ear.

  Still stands the forest primeval; but under the shade of its branches
  Dwells another race, with other customs and language. 
  Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic
  Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile
  Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom.

  In the fisherman’s cot the wheel and the loom are still busy;
  Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun,
  And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline’s story,
  While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean
  Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

INDEX OF NAMES

  A

  Abbasides, 398
  Abdiel, 298, 299
  Abduction of Persephone, 64
  Abel, 142, 311
  Abeniaf, 116, 118
  Abenteuerbuch, 326
  Abraham, 311
  Abstinence, 263
  Abul Kasin Mansur, 398
  Abu Zaid, 398
  Acadia, 468
  Achan, 170
  Achates, 64-66
  Acheron, 141
  Achilleis, 63, 69
  Achilles, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30-40, 42, 46, 53, 61, 88, 143, 269
  Acrasia, 264, 265, 267-269